Data processing apparatus for transmitting/receiving compression-related indication information via display interface and related data processing method

ABSTRACT

A data processing apparatus includes a compressor and an output interface. The compressor generates a compressed display data by compressing a display data according to a compression algorithm. The output interface appends first indication information in a first output bitstream, appends second indication information in a second output bitstream, and outputs the first output bitstream and the second output bitstream via a display interface. The first output bitstream is derived from the compressed display data. The first indication information is set in response to the compression algorithm employed by the compressor. The first indication information is different from the second indication information. The display interface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/936,231 filedJul. 8, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional applicationNo. 61/711,319 filed Oct. 9, 2012 and U.S. provisional application No.61/712,949 filed Oct. 12, 2012. The entire contents of all relatedapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate totransmitting and receiving display data over a display interface, andmore particularly, to a data processing apparatus fortransmitting/receiving compression-related indication information via adisplay interface and related data processing method.

A display interface is disposed between a first chip and a second chipto transmit display data from the first chip to the second chip forfurther processing. For example, the first chip may be a hostapplication processor, and the second chip may be a driver integratedcircuit (IC). The display data may include image data, video data,graphic data, and/or OSD (on-screen display) data. Besides, the displaydata may be single view data for two-dimensional (2D) display ormultiple view data for three-dimensional (3D) display. When a displaypanel supports a higher display resolution, 2D/3D display with higherresolution can be realized. Hence, the display data transmitted over thedisplay interface would have a larger data size/data rate, whichincreases the power consumption of the display interface inevitably. Ifthe host application processor and the driver IC are both located at aportable device (e.g., a smartphone) powered by a battery device, thebattery life is shortened due to the increased power consumption of thedisplay interface. Thus, there is a need for an innovative design whichcan effectively reduce the power consumption of the display interface.

SUMMARY

In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, adata processing apparatus for transmitting/receiving compression-relatedindication information via a display interface and related dataprocessing method are proposed.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an exemplary dataprocessing apparatus is disclosed. The exemplary data processingapparatus includes a compressor and an output interface. The compressoris arranged for generating a compressed display data by compressing adisplay data according to a compression algorithm. The output interfaceis arranged for appending first indication information in a first outputbitstream, appending second indication information in a second outputbitstream, and outputting the first output bitstream and the secondoutput bitstream via a display interface, wherein the first outputbitstream is derived from the compressed display data, the firstindication information is set in response to the compression algorithmemployed by the compressor, the first indication information isdifferent from the second indication information, and the displayinterface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an exemplary dataprocessing apparatus is disclosed. The exemplary data processingapparatus includes a compressor and an output interface. The compressoris arranged for generating a compressed display data by compressing afirst display data according to a compression algorithm. The outputinterface is arranged for appending first indication information andfirst identification (ID) number in a first output bitstream, appendingsecond ID number in a second output bitstream, and outputting the firstoutput bitstream and the second output bitstream via a displayinterface, wherein the first output bitstream is derived from thecompressed display data, the first indication information is set inresponse to the compression algorithm employed by the compressor, thefirst ID number is different from the second ID number, and the displayinterface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an exemplary dataprocessing method is disclosed. The exemplary data processing methodincludes generating a compressed display data by compressing a displaydata according to a compression algorithm; and appending firstindication information in an output bitstream, appending secondindication information in a second output bitstream, and outputting thefirst output bitstream and the second output bitstream via a displayinterface, wherein the first output bitstream is derived from thecompressed display data, the first indication information is set inresponse to the compression algorithm, the first indication informationis different from the second indication information, and the displayinterface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the outputbitstream generated from the application processor to the driver ICaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of information handshakingbetween the application processor and the driver IC.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control and data flow of the dataprocessing system shown in FIG. 1 when interface compression is enabled.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the outputbitstream generated from the application processor to the driver ICaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a control and data flow of the dataprocessing system shown in FIG. 5 when interface compression is enabled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claimsto refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names.This document does not intend to distinguish between components thatdiffer in name but not function. In the following description and in theclaims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-endedfashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but notlimited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean eitheran indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one deviceis coupled to another device, that connection may be through a directelectrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection viaother devices and connections.

The present invention proposes applying data compression to a displaydata and then transmitting a compressed display data over a displayinterface. As the data size/data rate of the compressed display data issmaller than that of the original un-compressed display data, the powerconsumption of the display interface is reduced correspondingly.Besides, the de-compression algorithm employed by a receiving end whichreceives and de-compresses a compressed display data is required to becompliant with the compression algorithm employed by a transmitting endwhich generates and transmits the compressed display data; otherwise,the receiving end fails to correctly de-compress the compressed displaydata. Therefore, the present invention further proposestransmitting/receiving the compression-related indication informationvia the display interface, such that the de-compression algorithm of thereceiving end is properly configured based on the compression-relatedindication information. Further details will be described as below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The data processingsystem 100 includes a plurality of data processing apparatuses such asan application processor 102 and a driver integrated circuit (IC) 104.The application processor 102 and the driver IC 104 may be differentchips, and the application processor 102 communicates with the driver IC104 via a display interface 103. In this embodiment, the displayinterface 103 may be a display serial interface (DSI) standardized by aMobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) or an embedded display port(eDP) standardized by a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).

The application processor 102 is coupled to the display interface 103,and supports un-compressed data transmission and compressed datatransmission. When the application processor 102 is used to transmitun-compressed data to the driver IC 104, the application processor 102generates the un-compressed display data D1 according to an inputdisplay data DI provided by an external data source 105, and transmitsthe un-compressed display data D1 over the display interface 103. Whenthe application processor 102 is used to transmit compressed data to thedriver IC 104, the application processor 102 generates a compresseddisplay data D1′ according to the input display data DI provided by theexternal data source 105, and transmits the compressed display data D1′over the display interface 103. Byway of example, but not limitation,the data source 105 may be a camera sensor, a memory card or a wirelessreceiver, and the input display data DI may include image data, videodata, graphic data, and/or OSD data. Further, the input display data DImay be single view data for 2D display or multiple view data for 3Ddisplay.

As shown in FIG. 1, the application processor 102 includes a displaycontroller 112, an output interface 114 and a processing circuit 116.The processing circuit 116 includes circuit elements required forprocessing the input display data DI to generate the un-compressed dataD1 or the compressed data D1′. For example, the processing circuit 116has a compressor 117 and other circuitry 118, where the other circuitry118 may have a display processor, a multiplexer, additional image/videoprocessing element(s), etc. The display processor may perform imageprocessing operations, including scaling, rotating, etc. For example,the display processor processes a source display data derived from theinput display data DI to generate the un-compressed display data D1,where the input display data DI may be bypassed or processed by theadditional image/video processing element(s) located before the displayprocessor to generate the source display data. The compressor 117performs data compression. Hence, the compressor 117 generates thecompressed display data D1′ by compressing the un-compressed displaydata D1 according to a compression algorithm. The multiplexer receivesthe un-compressed display data D1 and the compressed display data D1′,and selectively outputs the un-compressed display data D1 or thecompressed display data D1′ according to the operation mode of theapplication processor 102. For example, the display controller 112controls the operation of the application processor 102. Hence, when theapplication processor 102 is operated under a compression mode, themultiplexer is controlled by the display controller 112 to output thecompressed display data D1′; and when the application processor 102 isoperated under a non-compression mode, the multiplexer is controlled bythe display controller 112 to output the un-compressed display data D1.As the present invention focuses on the handshaking mechanism betweenthe application processor 102 and the driver IC 104, further descriptionof the other circuit 118 is omitted here for brevity.

The output interface 114 is arranged for packing/packetizing theun-compressed display data D1/compressed display data D1′ into an outputbitstream according to the transmission protocol of the displayinterface 103, and transmits the output bitstream to the driver IC 104via the display interface 103. When the compression mode of theapplication processor 102 is enabled, the compressor 117 further setsindication information INFO in response to the compression algorithmemployed. Besides, the output interface 114 further records theindication information INFO in the output bitstream. In this way, whenthe output bitstream is transmitted from the application processor 102to the driver IC 104, the compression-related indication information(e.g., the indication information INFO) is also transmitted via thedisplay interface 103.

Regarding the driver IC 104, it communicates with the applicationprocessor 102 via the display interface 103. In this embodiment, thedriver IC 104 is coupled to the display interface 103, and supportsun-compressed data reception and compressed data reception. When theapplication processor 102 transmits the un-compressed data D1 to thedriver IC 104, the driver IC 104 is operated under a non-decompressionmode to receive an un-compressed data D2 from the display interface 103and drive a display panel 106 according to the un-compressed displaydata D2. By way of example, the display panel 106 may be implementedusing any 2D/3D display device (e.g. a retina display), and the pixelarrangement may be a rectangle layout, a triangle layout or a pentilelayout. When the application processor 102 transmits the compressed dataD1′ to the driver IC 104, the driver IC 104 is operated under ade-compression mode to receive a compressed display data D2′ from thedisplay interface 103 and drive the display panel 106 according to ade-compressed display data derived from de-compressing the compresseddisplay data D2′. If there is no error introduced during the datatransmission, the un-compressed data D1 transmitted under thenon-compression mode should be identical to the un-compressed data D2received under the non-decompression mode, and the compressed data D1′transmitted under the compression mode should be identical to thecompressed data D2′ received under the de-compression mode.

As shown in FIG. 1, the driver IC 104 includes a driver IC controller122, an input interface 124 and a processing circuit 126. The processingcircuit 126 may include circuit elements required for driving thedisplay panel 106 according to a video mode or an image/command mode.For example, the processing circuit 126 has a de-compressor 127 andother circuitry 128, and the other circuitry 128 may have a displaybuffer, multiplexers, etc. The de-compressor 127 is used for performingdata de-compression. Hence, the de-compressor 127 generates thede-compressed display data by de-compressing the compressed display dataD2′ according to a de-compression algorithm, where the compresseddisplay data D2′ is derived from an input bitstream received from thedisplay interface 103. The display buffer is arranged for storing adisplay data to provide a buffered display data under the image/commandmode, wherein the display data stored into the display buffer may be anun-compressed display data, a compressed display data or a de-compresseddisplay data, depending upon actual design consideration/requirement.The multiplexers control interconnections of the de-compressor 127, thedisplay buffer and the display panel 106. As the present inventionfocuses on the handshaking mechanism between the application processor102 and the driver IC 104, further description of the other circuitry128 is omitted here for brevity.

The input interface 124 is arranged for receiving the input bitstreamfrom the display interface 103, and un-packing/un-packetizing the inputbitstream into un-compressed display data D2/compressed display data D2′according to the transmission protocol of the display interface 103.When the de-compression mode of the driver IC 104 is enabled, the inputinterface 124 is further arranged for parsing the indication informationINFO included in the input bitstream, and configuring the de-compressor127 to employ a de-compression algorithm as indicated by the indicationinformation INFO. In addition to the compressed data transmissionbetween the application processor 102 and the driver IC 104, informationhandshaking is realized through the display interface 103. Therefore,with the help of the indication information INFO supplied from theapplication processor 102, the de-compressor 127 of the driver IC 104 isproperly configured to employ an adequate de-compression algorithmneeded for de-compressing the compressed data D2′ correctly.

In one exemplary design, the output interface 114 records the indicationinformation INFO by setting a command set in a payload portion of theoutput bitstream transmitted over the display interface 103, and theinput interface 124 obtains the indication information INFO by parsing acommand set in a payload portion of the input bitstream received fromthe display interface 103. Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a diagramillustrating a data structure of the output bitstream generated from theapplication processor 102 to the driver IC 104 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The information handshaking betweenthe application processor 102 and the driver IC 104 may be realized bydefining a set of commands in the transmitted payload. For example,these commands can be specified in either a user command set or amanufactured command set based on MIPI display command set (DCS)specification, where each command in a command set is an 8-bit code, andthe command set can be used to communicate between the applicationprocessor 102 and the driver IC 104 about the compression capability andcompression/de-compression algorithms they support. Please refer to FIG.3, which is a diagram illustrating an example of information handshakingbetween the application processor 102 and the driver IC 104. In thisexample, the compressor 117 supports four compression algorithms, andthe de-compressor 127 supports four de-compression algorithms compliantwith the compression algorithms, respectively. The different compressionalgorithms may handle different compression ratios, differentcompression unit sizes, different color formats (e.g. RGB or YCbCr),different sub-sampling formats (e.g. 4:4:4 or 4:2:2), and/or differentbit depths (RGB888 or RGB565). Hence, the indication information INFO isadjusted when at least one of a compression ratio, a compression unitsize, a color format, a sub-sampling format, and a bit depth of acompression algorithm employed is changed. The application processor 102may check a de-compression capability of the driver IC 104 by sending arequest to the driver IC 104 through the display interface 103, and thedriver IC 104 may inform the application processor 102 of itsde-compression capability by sending a response to the applicationprocessor 102 through the display interface 103. In this way, theapplication processor 102 can detect whether the driver IC 104 has theability of performing data de-compression, and can further detect whatkinds of de-compression algorithms the driver IC 104 supports if thedriver IC 104 is equipped with the de-compression capability. In thisexample, the compressor 117 at the application processor 102 isconfigured to use the compression algorithm #4, and the indicationinformation INFO is set correspondingly. The indication information INFOis carried by the command set transmitted from the application processor102 to the driver IC 104 via the display interface 103. Hence, thedriver IC 104 receives the indication information INFO through thedisplay interface 103, and configures the de-compressor 127 to employthe de-compression algorithm #4 as indicated by the indicationinformation INFO.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control and data flow of the dataprocessing system 100 shown in FIG. 1 when interface compression isenabled. Provided that the result is substantially the same, the stepsare not required to be executed in the exact order shown in FIG. 4 Theexemplary control and data flow may be briefly summarized by followingsteps.

Step 400: Start.

Step 402: Configure the compressor 117 to employ a compressionalgorithm.

Step 404: Set the indication information INFO in response to thecompression algorithm employed by the compressor 117.

Step 406: Record the indication information INFO in an output bitstream.For example, the indication information INFO is recorded by setting acommand set in a payload portion of the output bitstream.

Step 408: Transmit the output bitstream over the display interface 103.

Step 410: Receive an input bitstream from the display interface 103.

Step 412: Parse the indication information INFO included in the inputbitstream. For example, the indication information INFO is obtained byparsing a command set in a payload portion of the input bitstream.

Step 414: Configure the de-compressor 127 to employ a de-compressionalgorithm as indicated by the indication information INFO.

Step 416: End.

It should be noted that steps 402-408 are performed by the applicationprocessor (AP) 102, and steps 410-414 are performed by the driver IC104. As a person skilled in the art can readily understand details ofeach step shown in FIG. 4 after reading above paragraphs, furtherdescription is omitted here for brevity.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the data processing system 100 has anapplication processor connected to only one driver IC. However, the samehandshaking mechanism may be applied to a data processing systemequipped with virtual channel capability. Please refer to FIG. 5 inconjunction with FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a dataprocessing system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. The data processing system 500 includes a channel detector502, a channel controller 504, and a plurality of data processingapparatuses such as one application processor (e.g., the aforementionedapplication processor 102 shown in FIG. 1) and multiple driver ICs(e.g., the aforementioned driver IC 106 shown in FIG. 1 and additionaldriver ICs 506, 508, 510). The driver ICs 106, 506, 508, 510 may be usedfor driving different regions of the display panel 106 shown in FIG. 1.Besides, each of the driver ICs 506, 508, 510 may have a hardwareconfiguration identical to that of the driver IC 104. In other words,the driver ICs 506, 508, 510 also support the proposed handshakingmechanism of the present invention.

The channel controller 504 is arranged to direct data to individualdriver ICs 106, 506, 508, 510 under the control of the channel detector502, thus eliminating the need for multiple interfaces or complexmultiplexing schemes. In this embodiment, the output interface 114 ofthe application processor 102 is further arranged for recording achannel identification (ID) number ID_(CH) in a header portion of theoutput bitstream to indicate which one of the driver ICs 106, 506, 508,510 should be connected for receiving the output bitstream. FIG. 6 is adiagram illustrating a data structure of the output bitstream generatedfrom the application processor 102 to the driver IC 104 according toanother embodiment of the present invention. As mentioned above, theinformation handshaking between the application processor 102 and thedriver IC 104 is realized by defining a set of commands in thetransmitted payload. In this embodiment, the virtual channel capabilityof the data processing system 500 is realized by defining the channel IDnumber in the transmitted header. For example, the driver IC 106 isconnected for data transmission/reception when ID_(CH)=#1, the driver IC506 is connected for data transmission/reception when ID_(CH)=#2, thedriver IC 508 is connected for data transmission/reception whenID_(CH)=#3, and the driver IC 510 is connected for datatransmission/reception when ID_(CH)=#4.

The channel detector 502 is implemented for receiving an input bitstreamfrom the display interface 103, and identifying the channel ID numberID_(CH) from the header portion of the input bitstream. Next, thechannel controller 504 dispatches the input bitstream, including theheader portion and the payload portion shown in FIG. 6, to a selecteddriver IC with the channel ID number ID_(CH). The informationhandshaking as illustrated in FIG. 3 is also performed between theapplication processor 102 and the selected driver IC (e.g., the driverIC 106, if ID_(CH)=#1). Further description is omitted here for brevity.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a control and data flow of the dataprocessing system 500 shown in FIG. 5 when interface compression isenabled. Provided that the result is substantially the same, the stepsare not required to be executed in the exact order shown in FIG. 7. Theexemplary control and data flow may be briefly summarized by followingsteps.

Step 700: Start.

Step 702: Configure the compressor 117 to employ a compressionalgorithm.

Step 704: Set the indication information INFO in response to thecompression algorithm employed by the compressor 117.

Step 706: Set the channel ID number ID_(CH) indicative of which driverIC should be connected for data transmission.

Step 708: Record the channel ID number ID_(CH) and the indicationinformation INFO in an output bitstream. For example, the indicationinformation INFO is recorded by setting a command set in a payloadportion of the output bitstream, and the channel ID number ID_(CH) isrecorded by setting a header portion of the output bitstream.

Step 710: Transmit the output bitstream over the display interface 103.

Step 712: Get the channel ID number ID_(CH) from an input bitstream. Forexample, the channel ID number ID_(CH) is obtained by parsing a headerportion of the input bitstream.

Step 714: Dispatch the input bitstream to a selected driver IC with thechannel ID number ID_(CH).

Step 716: Receive the input bitstream dispatched from the channelcontroller 504.

Step 718: Parse the indication information INFO included in the inputbitstream. For example, the indication information INFO is obtained byparsing a command set in a payload portion of the input bitstream.

Step 720: Configure the de-compressor 127 to employ a de-compressionalgorithm as indicated by the indication information INFO.

Step 722: End.

It should be noted that steps 702-710 are performed by the applicationprocessor (AP) 102, step 712 is performed by the channel detector 502,step 714 is performed by the channel controller 504, and steps 716-720are performed by the selected driver IC (i.e., one of the driver ICs106, 506, 508, 510). As a person skilled in the art can readilyunderstand details of each step shown in FIG. 7 after reading aboveparagraphs, further description is omitted here for brevity.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data processing apparatus comprising: acompressor, arranged for generating a compressed display data bycompressing a display data according to a compression algorithm; and anoutput interface, arranged for appending first indication information ina first output bitstream, appending second indication information in asecond output bitstream, and outputting the first output bitstream andthe second output bitstream via a display interface, wherein the firstoutput bitstream is derived from the compressed display data, and thefirst indication information is set in response to the compressionalgorithm employed by the compressor, wherein the first indicationinformation is different from the second indication information, whereinthe display interface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit. 2.The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the compressionalgorithm is changed, the second indication information is set inresponse to the changed compression algorithm.
 3. A data processingapparatus comprising: a compressor, arranged for generating a compresseddisplay data by compressing a first display data according to acompression algorithm; and an output interface, arranged for appendingfirst indication information and first identification (ID) number in afirst output bitstream, appending second ID number in a second outputbitstream, and outputting the first output bitstream and the secondoutput bitstream via a display interface, wherein the first outputbitstream is derived from the compressed display data, and the firstindication information is set in response to the compression algorithmemployed by the compressor, the first ID number is different from thesecond ID number, wherein the display interface is arranged for couplingto a driver circuit.
 4. The data processing apparatus of claim 3,wherein the first ID number is set in response to the first display dataand the second ID number is set in response to a second display data,and the first display data and the second display data correspond todifferent regions of a display.
 5. A data processing method comprising:generating a compressed display data by compressing a display dataaccording to a compression algorithm; and appending first indicationinformation in a first output bitstream, appending second indicationinformation in a second output bitstream, and outputting the firstoutput bitstream and the second output bitstream via a displayinterface, wherein the first output bitstream is derived from thecompressed display data, and the first indication information is set inresponse to the compression algorithm, wherein the first indicationinformation is different from the second indication information, whereinthe display interface is arranged for coupling to a driver circuit. 6.The data processing method of claim 5, further comprising: changing thecompression algorithm, wherein the second indication information is setin response to the changed compression algorithm.
 7. The data processingmethod of claim 6, wherein changing the compression algorithm comprises:changing at least one of a compression ratio, a compression unit size, acolor format, a sub-sampling format, and a bit depth.